Andrew Williams, 42, of 1809 Huff in Wichita Falls, Texas, had been scheduled for pretrial in September 2006, but the trial was postponed to establish his mental competency, which has since been done at the Jim Taliaferro Community Mental Health Center in Lawton.
Williams was arrested and jailed in the murder March 25, 2005, by Wichita Falls police, who had been notified of a warrant for his arrest issued in Jackson County District Court. He is charged with murder in the first degree after two former felony convictions.
Wilson, 58, was found dead the morning of Jan. 18, 2005, of multiple stab wounds in room 105 of the Budget Inn, 510 1/2 N. Main St., by housekeeper Bina Patel. He had been stabbed 76 times.
On Sept. 13, 2005, Williams entered a plea of not guilty to the crime, which is punishable by death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for life without parole.
He is being defended by Oklahoma Indigent Defense System attorney Albert J. Hoch Jr., who was appointed Aug. 21, 2006, to replace Williams' former OIDS attorney Diane Box.
At a preliminary hearing in the case on Aug. 22, 2005, Box tested the credibility of the prosecution's chief witness, Melissa Fernandez, then 29, painting her as a pathological liar and placing her and convicted felon Richard Allen Large in the motel room at the time of Wilson's murder. In that hearing before Special Judge Suzanne Mollison, Box pointed to police interview transcripts showing that Fernandez had told acquaintances at the Budget Inn and the apartment complex opposite the motel to the north on at least five occasions that Large had committed the murder.
Large is serving a 20-year sentence in the state Department of Corrections for his part in the stabbing of Eric French, of Altus, on Feb. 24, 2005, at the Dixie Quik Stop, 1001 E. Ridgecrest Road. French was stabbed once in the upper torso near his neck, and in his right side. Brett L. Benivamondez, of 1024 Burns, who participated in that stabbing along with Large, was sentenced in July 2005 to 10 years, with all but the first nine months suspended.
The only other physical evidence that the state had in its case against Williams, Box said, was the personal property retrieved from Williams at the Wichita County Jail by Altus Police Detective Capt. Mike Turner. During his interview with Turner in Wichita Falls, Williams denied any involvement in Wilson's murder and denied having any information about it. He did, however, consent to a search of his property - a black jacket, a pair of black boots and a pair of black jeans.
The items were sent for analysis to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, and on Feb. 28, 2005, criminalists at the bureau confirmed that DNA testing on a blood stain found on the left boot matched Wilson's DNA profile "at all genetic loci tested."
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